Hello Mo fans!
Well our visiting cat friend Sawdust gets the spotlight this week. He is the orange and white cat with the sweet face who has been hanging around from time to time. When the weather took a real cold turn a few weeks back Mr Sawdust became a very regular visitor, stopping by the back porch every morning, sitting on the windowsills, meowing to come in.
When I went outside he would rub up against my ankles and seemed so determined to come in that I became worried and fed him a small bit out on the porch some mornings. There were a couple families that had moved recently, had he been abandoned? I finally decided to try a test message and put a red collar on Sawdust with a short message: HUNGRY: am I a stray?
Oh giggles, he shows up a few days later with a pretty black collar and name tag: Jasper!
Mr Jasper stops by for a visit
Jasper is a type of semi-precious rock that comes in a variety of browns, quite the appropriate name for him. The name tag also had a phone number on the back, and a call to Jasper’s family was fun. Apparently Jasper goes visiting to quite a few neighbor’s houses, and he is just over the back fence from me so we are happy he is not crossing any roads.
My cats are quite relieved to not have this intruder be homeless. Miss Nimbus has had her run-ins with Jasper, it was he who had her trapped up on the shed roof. Now when she sees him sitting on the windowsill she jumps up on the inside of the window and smacks the glass with her paws to scare him away. Cats can be very jealous defending their human from other cats!
I sneak outside and give him the chin scratch anyway, he’s such a nice fellow.
Nims with golden streamers on her collar
Our pretty Miss Nimbus is in the doghouse for killing birds. To help protect the birds we have added gold streamers alongside the bells on her collar. To be extra careful, she is now only allowed outdoors at night. Catch all the rats you want, honey.
She spent a night in jail, the doghouse, (literally a large dog pet carrier), after bringing in the bird’s body.
Seattle is having a mild winter compared to many parts of the country. The varied thrush only visits at this time of year; it’s a rare bird that looks a little like a robin but with a big black V on it’s chest. Learn more about birds at the Audubon Society and get hooked by joining your local chapter. Unfortunately, even well-fed cats kill a very large number of songbirds, with more solitary species being more vulnerable. Here is an article from the American Bird Conservancy.
The fishpond in the yard is a water supply for birds and my bird list for recent visitors is pretty impressive. The nuthatches have been absent this year, sad to say.
Bird list: Chickadees (Black Capped and Chestnut Backed), Cooper’s Hawk, Crows, Juncos, Purple Finches, House Sparrows, Rufous Sided Towhee, Varied Thrush, Robin, Flicker, Ruby Crowned Kinglets, Steller’s Jay, Pine Warblers, and a glimpse of a wren.
Nims bravely enters the tub
Miss Nimbus had one bath, months ago, when her white coat was really dirty. She did not take kindly to this warm water dousing, and has been hesitant to even enter the bathroom, and especially not the dreaded bathtub!
Mo hops in the tub often to check out the dripping tap and get some really fresh water. I was thinking it would be handy if she were aware of this extra water source, and wanted to quell her fear of the bathroom, so I decided to try bribing her with food.
They both adore Hills Tartar Diet food, which I originally got for Mo’s dental health. I tried leaving a couple pellets of this treat in the bottom of the tub for Nims. At first she was very interested but would not go near it while I was in the bathroom. Later I checked and it was gone. Soon she was putting her paws up on the edge of the tub and watching me put out treats, licking her lips, then she was brave enough to jump in the tub – but immediately jumped out with the food in her mouth to eat it in the safety of the doorway. Pretty funny. Finally she was relaxed enough to eat what she found right there in the tub.
Here they are having a tussle in the kitchen. They will play fight and chase each other around the house. I hope they are playing more than fighting, sometimes I break them up when it starts sounding too mean.
Nimbus and Mo play fight
Nims chasing a Christmas Mouse
The cats had a festive holiday, a dusting of snow, special treats to eat, a little catnip, and Christmas presents! Here is Miss Nimbus chasing a Christmas Mouse that has a special pull string to make it animated.
One cat carried said mouse upstairs, the double-take when you spot a mouse in your bedroom is entertaining. In the photo you can just see the gold ribbon on the back of Nim’s collar. I had super glued several festive streamers on her collar and she promptly pulled all but one of them off. She then lost her collar outdoors, and I put on a substitute new collar, a soft baby girl pink that complimented her ears. A white cat with white ears is something to watch. The vet pointed out to me that when she is interested in something, the blood flow increases and her ears turn a bright pink.
A few days later I found her original collar outdoors. When I held it up to put it back on her, she heard the bell and ran for it. No self respecting cat would want to wear gold streamers, please let me keep the pink collar!
Mo, Sawdust, and Nimbus
Here they are hanging out watching Mr Sawdust, who had been showing off his tree climbing skills. Sawdust even got a pinch of catnip out on the porch, to ring in the new year.
Mr Mo came home with me just before Christmas, December 18th, 2004.
Mo as a kitten. He was a feisty little guy, unafraid of the bigger cats where he grew up.
He had a grayish body with faint tiger stripes, and darker black “points” or extremities; his tail, legs, and head. His sister Stella was more flashy, with the polka dot tummy and bolder tabby stripes, but Mo was the kitten for me.
getting into mischief
Here is another shot that shows how silver his coat appeared. Before long he got his longer black outer coat in and the gray undercoat was hidden. Now if he is out in strong sunlight you can sometimes still see the hidden tabby stripes. He has a stripe of longer fur along his back and tail, and of course on his head as his mini-mohawk. On the rare occasions when he is alarmed and puts his hair up you can see this. Reminds me of a fish raising it’s dorsal fin so it appears too big to swallow.
I was re-painting the living room shortly after he arrived, and he delighted in tunneling under the clear plastic drop cloths, and playing fetch; chasing small balls, returning them to me to be thrown again.
He has been a great buddy, very affectionate and entertaining, that’s my Mo.
Hello Mo fans!
snow camouflage
We had a nice dusting of snow for Thanksgiving, so pretty watching it fall and transform the landscape. This was likely the first time Miss Nimbus had seen snow, and I saw her shaking her paws. With her white coat it turned her into the camouflage kitty.
After a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with family, I was home on the sofa watching TV with a furry fake leopard throw blanket on my lap. Mo came by to purr and be petted on the lap. Soon it was the turn for Nims, who was being extra affectionate. After walking along the back of the sofa purring and rubbing up against my head, she settled in for some lap time herself. Hah, Mr Mo, who is now on the floor, gets jealous and stands up on his back legs to swat her twice, trying to shoo her away. I made him desist, but he came back a little later, noting my now reclining pose, he took the shoulder spot, and there I was, with a blanket and two cats keeping me toasty. A festival of felines, a pile of purrieness. Snow always makes me thankful to be warm.
snow falling softly
Hello Mo fans!
Movember is here! No it’s not a typo, Mo is saluting Movember Australia, a group that promotes November as a month for awareness of men’s cancer issues, similar to October being Breast Cancer Awareness month. Mo is Australian slang for a moustache, and to support the cause men grow a mo for the month, or if they normally wear one they shave it and regrow it that month. It makes for many a conversation starter on an important topic.
Please pass this on, and grow a mo if you can! Check out their website for info on becoming a Mo Bro or Mo Sista, and look for Mo Merchandise too.
Now my little Mo is named for the natural Mohawk hairdo he sports, but he still supports the Mo Bros. He also has extra long hair all along the length of his spine, only visible if truly alarmed.
Mo's tiny Mohawk hairdo
Hello Mo fans!
Sawdust and Nims
The cats are settling in to their new home. Miss Nimbus has been quite interested in vertical exploration. I have often seen her up on the roof of the garage, and one time she exited that roof along a tree branch, threading her way over to the neighbor’s garage roof, with the pale orange cat in close pursuit.
Let’s dub this pale orange cat Sawdust cat. It is not as mean a bully as Creamsicle cat, and often comes to watch from a polite distance when I am doing yard work. Here is a shot of Sawdust cat checking out Nims on the shed roof.
Oh yes, she found her way up onto a new roof, and did not quite know how to get down. I put the ladder out for her, but she opted instead for a leap into the giant boxwood bush, a seven foot monster I refer to as Senor Mosh Pit, as the only way I can reach to prune the top is to lay a towel on the bush and surf across the top to reach the back corners.
Nims and Senor Mosh Pit
It was near the end of the day when I shot these photos, hence the dusky quality, but the actions were quite entertaining. Click on the images for a closer view.
Hello Mo fans!
The Mo report is back, after a break to relocate to Seattle from Medford. We will miss the deer in the backyard, but Mo is glad to be on familiar turf and Miss Nimbus adores the place.
I have noticed Mr Mo is a little hesitant about going outside lately. He must be intimidated by the neighborhood bullies. I encourage him to go out now and then, but he seems to enjoy luxuriating in a spot near a sunny window, usually lying half in sun and half in shadow.
Mo finds a sunbeam
This funky old farmhouse has a door at the foot of the stairs, and I have cut a small cat portal in this door so the cats have free passage. I try to keep this door closed so the heat doesn’t all drift up the stairwell. Sometimes the cats knock the door open, like when Mo tries to drag his stuffed buddy Heath through the opening. In the wee hours of the morning I heard Mo open this door and I trotted down and slammed it so it was securely shut before going back to sleep.
Heath hanging out the cat door
Ha ha, morning arrives and when I try to open the door the handle is not turning the latch and then it falls out of the door, leaving me trapped in the attic. Kicking the door didn’t free me and I feared having to climb out an upstairs window and leap for a tree. Luckily I found a pair of cuticle scissors and used those in the lock mechanism to twist the latch free.
…
The nerve of that trickster Mo. I suppose he loosened the screw on the doorknob too. It is fixed now, and it’s a good lesson to consider one of those attic escape ladders. That and a spring so the door shuts itself!
Hello Mo fans!
bandit bob in hiding
We have a guest report this week from Bandit Bob! He is a very handsome kitty that lives in Bend, OR. With his deep blue eyes and fancy markings, he is one special boy.
Yes, it was a road trip weekend, going to visit other cool cats.
Bandit Bob lives in a house with a pretty garden, and like all cats, he knows where he looks good and chooses to hang out there. So the blue birdbath that matches his eyes is one of his favorite stations.
bandit bob at the birdbath
the mo report | mary | 
February 28, 2011 12:16 am | 
Comments (0) 
Subscribe